Where In the World is Avery?

As some of you may have noticed, I have been pretty MIA as of late. Why? Simply put, life. It's been quite an adjustment going from being a full time grad student (graduated with my Masters of Library and Information Science in August!!!) to a full time grown-up- from (rather unsuccessfully) trying to find a job in my field, to working the holidays at my current job, a gourmet chocolate store (my GAWD, it's just holiday after HOLIDAY- from Halloween, to Christmas, to Valentines Day, to Easter, all of which people want copious amounts of chocolate- A chocolatier gets no time to all but breathe from October to April), and everything else in between.

Plus, it doesn't help that I've been in a book rut for what seems like AGES (a lot of which is, admittedly, to blame on my recent discovery of Netflix)- for the first time in years I didn't read over 100 books in a single year and I've only read 4 books this year so far (though I have read "Ignite Me" three times already, so maybe that counts for something). Which therefore has resulted in me falling a bit out of love with blogging.

So what does this mean for the blog? You, unfortunately, won't be seeing much from me until I can once again find my groove- though, in the next two months you'll see about 6-8 ARC reviews!

Thanks y'all for sticking with me during my "MIA" phase- I appreciate you more than you'll ever understand!

"Cress" by Marissa Meyer

Release Date: February 4, 2014
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Pages: 550

From Goodreads: "Rapunzel’s tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard. 

In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker—unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can."

Admittedly when I first heard about Marissa's "Lunar Chronicles" series I was skeptical- it sounded like there was way too random plot elements tossed into a 400 page YA book than could possibly ever work. However, when I actually delved into the world of "Cinder", I quickly learned that that was anything but the case. It's sequel, "Scarlet", was an even stronger book, if possible, and hands down one of my most favourite books of 2013 (featuring one of my most favourite YA couples EVER, Wolf and Scarlet). Therefore, as you can imagine, when it came time for "Cress" I did everything in my power to get my hands on a copy- and, again, I was anything but disappointed.

I think that the biggest strength of these books, this book especially, is how seamless and effortless they appear when you know that that is anything but the case for author Marissa Meyer. It is truly mindblowing how many classical fairytales she has woven together- and done so from the very first book, dropping Easter eggs, so to speak, all along the way (for instance, briefly introducing Cress and making mention of Winter in "Cinder"). Furthermore, while there are a number of fairytale retellings in YA, especially as of late, I think that Marissa's stand out from the bunch, as she has truly made each of them her own.

Another strength of this book is it's pacing, after reading it it truly felt as if I had read four books instead of one, simply because of everything that happened in it. That being said, not once while reading it did I ever find myself overwhelmed, instead, being intrigued the entire way and flipping through the pages as quickly as I possibly could to see what sort of situation my favourite cast of characters would get into next. On the note of characters, you would think that with so many main characters in one book that they wouldn't get as much attention that they deserve in the way of development, but that is anything but the case- they have as many differences than they do similarities- from Cinder, to Cress, to Scarlet, to Iko, to Thorne, and on.

The only real complaint about is this book is that I wish that Scarlet had played a larger role in it- though what little role she did play in this book managed to bring on the FEELS that I so desperately wanted between her and Wolf after their book. Furthermore, this book was, like the others, a fair bit predictable, however, I am was happy with this fact because it means that much of the theories that I had thought of about the series were true!

All in all, there's no questioning it- Marissa Meyer is one of the most ingenious and unique YA authors that we've seen in quite some time, she never ceases to amaze me with her ever-growing skills and abilities. Though I only recently read this book, I know that I will be rereading it soon because I can't bear to be away from these character/ world for too long! Furthermore, the next year or so will be absolute torture waiting for the last installment in this series, "Winter"!

Rating: 5/5

I received this book from the publisher to read and review. I was not compensated in any way for said review.